On 2011-07-23, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:


> Some blame also goes to downloadable e-books. B & N got on the bandwagon
> earlier than Borders. IIRC, Barnes & Noble closed some of their brick &
> mortar stores a couple of years ago.

Book stores have always been in flux. Used to be chain discount book
stores in all the malls. Remember Crown and Walden's? They all went
under with the advent of the big box book stores like B&N and Borders,
which almost never discount books. I remember when the Borders
opened near me. I lived there. First time I went was Sunday
afternoon and they had a jazz trio playing. Within 2 yrs, they'd
remodeled, losing a third of total floorspace.

I never understood that business model. How did full retail stores
replace discount stores. Never a lack of business I could see.
Always lines at the checkout and new titles by the gross. I kept being
amazed at how many books were being published on every subject
imaginable.

I don't really think ebooks are replacing print books. Readers are
expensive and you never own an ebook. Despite the fact there is no
overhead for printing, shipping, etc, the prices are still absurdly
high. Can't sell it, trade it, give it to a friend. Don't have to
plug in a print book to recharge. If I fall asleep while reading and
drop a print book and then roll over on it, the worst that can happen
is a few crumpled pages. What would happen to that expensive ereader?
Trees are a renewable resource. Ereaders are a toxic industry.
Really bad trade off, IMO.

Jes some thoughts.....

nb